Summer visitors

Luke Bergles, still in greasepaint and uniform after his big win in the baseball championship, stopped by HCN with his dad, Matt.

Brendon Bosworth

The folks keep flowing in, despite the heat. Virginia archaeologists Allen Hard andMarjorie Siegel dropped by our Paonia, Colo., headquarters to cool down. They were headed to Gunnison, where they plan to spend a couple of months surveying the old mining town of Tin Cup, elevation 11,500 feet, for the Forest Service –– a chillier spot, we hope!

Jeff Laird, from nearby Grand Junction, also stopped in. His son Gayland gave him a subscription for Christmas a few years ago. Jeff is an engineering geologist who builds train tunnels and other megaprojects around the country. Natural resource issues, he said, are more interesting than theoretical physics.

Cindy Donaldson, a Canyonlands National Park ranger, stopped by on her day off with her in-laws, Daryl and Becky Jones of Montrose, Colo., to enjoy Paonia's thrift stores, wineries and big shade trees, which Cindy called a nice change from Utah desert. Becky last read HCN in newsprint, so she walked off with an armload of back issues -- and a new subscription -- to get back up to speed.

Matt Bergles and his 11-year-old son, Luke, came by on their way home to Denver, Colo., from the Cal Ripken state championships in Orchard City, where Luke's baseball team took the title. Matt researches wildlife management and private lands at the Denver Zoo.

KennethandAmstutz Couch found time to say howdy while on a backpacking trip. Kenneth teaches at Albuquerque's Del Norte High School and Amstutz is a minister at a Mennonite church. "You don't meet many ministers who are rabid about environmental issues," she observed. Peter and Elaine Hebard, also of Albuquerque, dropped in en route to a five-week hiking and camping trip through Glacier National Park and farther northward to British Columbia.

Lynda Lillywhite and Enzo Pollono, of Evergreen, Colo., were in town to learn gardening tricks at the local farm/inn, Fresh and Wyld. The couple met online while Lynda was a schoolteacher in Evergreen and Enzo lived in his native Italy. After 11 days of phone conversations, Lynda spent spring break in Italy and the two "fell in love officially," says Enzo. Eventually, they tied the knot -- but not before Enzo was detained after telling an unromantic customs official that he was coming to the U.S. to marry the woman he loved.

Sedona, Ariz., Mayor Rob Adamsand his wife, Christine, got a new subscription on their way to Ouray, Colo., after a family wedding in Colorado Springs. Rob complimented HCN's writers on their well-researched articles and "real concern for real issues." Thanks, Rob!

RIVETING READ

HCN contributorDeanne Stillman's new book, Desert Reckoning(Nation Books), tells the true story of Donald Kueck, a hermit who lived in the California desert and murdered Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Stephen Sorensen in 2003, triggering a fatal weeklong manhunt. "With the modern frontier as the backdrop," the press release says, "Stillman paints a riveting portrait of the lives, relationships, and life-altering decisions that led two seemingly different men to a fate foretold."

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